Serene 86 year old looking to exchange insightful ideas and remembrances.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Art as Catharsis.

This is my niece Wendy. You may remember that I blogged about her in Sept. She is spending the months of August, September and October as a resident artist at the Scuola di Grafica in Venice, Italy.

This is a dream come true for Wendy but her joy is tinged with sadness since she is also grieving the loss of her mother, my oldest sister Mary, who passed away 10 months ago. The picture that you see here is posted on the Scuala blog site and a partial quote from that write-up has Wendy saying, “All my self-portraits have been looking in the mirror and drawing on the page at the same time. You are able to capture characteristics coming out that you would not get if you were looking straight on. It’s an interesting reflection process.”

I thought that was an interesting comment, especially in view of my reaction when I took a good look at the portrait. Without her realizing it Wendy had drawn a portrait that seemed eerily to combine all the features that I remember from my sister Mary, her mother and from my mother, her grandmother.

When I brought this to Wendy’s attention she agreed but said she had done nothing intentional to get this effect and I believe that.

Her artistic ability to draw made the picture possible but I also believe it was her subconscious mind that guided her hand … freeing her to grieve in a healthy way by combining the features of these three loving women into one. Truly…catharsis by art.

Mind is more than brain. Even the brain is more than just the brain for in involves the who nervous system of the body. Their is body memory. Perhaps her body is guided by here emotional mind in her artwork resulting in her portrait revealing people of her emotional life.

The resemblance is striking for sure. Perhaps the familial traits are so strong that is what she saw. Hard to know but art and music can help with grief. It may take her a while to get over grieving the loss of her mother. She will eventually come to remember her mother with great joy and fewer tears.